xxiii, 257 pages ; 24 cm

"The Unforgettable Queens of Islam is a book about Muslim women rulers, women who have contested rules of dynastic succession in medieval Yemen and India or stood for election in modern Pakistan and Indonesia. How did they achieve such feats? How could young Muslim women come to occupy the exalted office of the Sultan in Delhi in medieval India, or to be democratically elected to the office of the prime minister in modern Pakistan? Did they contravene religious laws and moral orders to become rulers in their societies? What sociopolitical structures, cultural mechanisms, and personal qualities enabled them to realize their objectives? History provides us with many cases of powerful women - Muslim and non-Muslim - who influenced men of power (or men in general) to change the course of their relations, dynastic successions, and sociopolitical events"--

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-246) and index

Introduction. Games of succession: patriarchy, power, gender -- Part I. Sacred Sources of Authority: The Quran and the Hadith -- 1. Queen of Sheba and her mighty throne -- 2. ʻAʼisha Bint Abu Bakr: battle of the camel, battle for succession -- Part II. Medieval Queens: Dynasty and Descent -- 3. Sayyida Hurra Queen Arwa of Yemen: 'the little Queen of Sheba' -- 4. Razia Sultan of India: 'Queen of the world Bilqis-i Jihan' -- Part III. Contemporary Queens: Institutionalization of Succession -- 5. Benazir Bhutto: a queen 'without parallel' -- 6. Megawati Sukarnoputri: 'Limbuk becomes Queen' -- Some concluding remarks

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